A Call to Action in New Hampshire

We, as New Hampshire Writers for Democratic Action, understand BOOK BANNING to be a strategy of authoritarian governments to restrict personal freedoms, a strategy preliminary to what we witnessed in totalitarian regimes of the twentieth century. We are grateful to partner with New Hampshire bookstores and libraries in their efforts to provide access to titles that have been banned across our state. “To allow a group of people or any individual, no matter how powerful or loud, to become the decision-maker about what books we can read or whether libraries exist is to place all of our rights and liberties in jeopardy” (Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom).

Let us act now, while we can, to protect our democracy, our books, and our right to read what we choose!

In the fall of 2023, NH WDA Steering Committee Chair Katherine Towler published an editorial, “The Overwhelming Cost of Book Banning,” with Sy Montgomery and Peter Bromberg of Every Library in the Manchester Union Leader and the Concord Monitor. In the current legislative session, HB 1419, an “obscene materials” bill designed to control the books schools and libraries can make available, was defeated. A smilier bill, SB 523, is still pending in the Senate. A Freedom to Read bill, HB 1311, passed the House and is headed for a vote in the NH Senate. Contact your NH Senators to urge them to support the Freedom to Read bill and to vote no on SB 523.